Improvement in flower-makers  girass-cuttlng machines



T. & J. MILLDT. FIower-Makers Grass-Cutting-Machines. No. 144,916. PatentedNov.'25,1873.

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U ITED STATES PATEFLOFHQE" THEOPHILUS MILLOT AND JAMES MILLOT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLOWER-MAKERS GRASS-CUTTING MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,916, dated November 25, 1873; application filed August 30, 1873.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, THEOPHILUS MILLOT and JAMES M'ILLOT, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Machine for Cutting Flower-Makers Grasses, of which the following is a specification:

Our invention consists of a cutting-board and a shiftingguide for it, combined with a cutting-machine, such as are commonly used for cutting paper, so that the pack of cloth pieces to be slitted and cut off" in bunches, being clamped onto said board, may be fed along under the cutting-blade, in the ordinary way of feeding up the material to be out, for slitting it, and then shifted laterally, or in the lengthwise direction of the blade, for cutting off the bunches of grass blades. Ourinvention also consists of a point-trimming blade, arranged on a movable support, so that it can be operated before each operation of the slitting and cutting-off blade, to bevel the corner of the pack of the cloth pieces while said pack is in the position for the cutting-01f and slitting blade to act, and which said support is so arranged that when the slitting-blade moves down an inclined plane on it will move the pointcutter out of the way of the slittingblade.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of Fig. 1, taken on the linea: m. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation taken on the line y 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a plan of the cutting-board with a pack of cloth pieces to be out, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of a bunch of grass as cut by the machine.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents the frame, B the table, 0 the cutter, and D the cross-head, of an ordinary paper-cutting machine. E is a cutting-board, and F the guide for it, which we combine with the said machine for feeding the packs of muslin to be out; also, for shifting them from the position for being slitted to the one for being cut 0%, and vice versa. The said cutting-board consists of an ordinary piece of hard-wood board, of suitable size, with a groove, G, ext nding across it on both sides, near each end, to run over the guide F, which consists of a stud raised up above the surface of the table ,B from an angle-bar, H, in a groove, I, in said table, the bar being fitted at one end in a guide, J, at a corner of the table, so as to slide in the lengthwise direction of the cutter G, and at the same time support a standard, K, rising up from it to a suitable distance above the table, and supporting the lon ghorizontal rod L, which extends across parallel to the cutter O, and rests on the horizontal arm M. This rod is connected to the standard by a socket-piece, N, which turns freely on the standard, and allows the rod to swing along the arm M toward and from the cutter O. This rod carries the tubular holder 0 of the stock P of the pointing-knife Q, said holder being arranged oblique to the rod, but parallel to the slot guide R, with which the cutter O is provided, to cause it to shear-cut. The stock P slides down and up in said holder, to bevel of the corner of the pack, as shown at f, Fig. 4, being forced down by the hand of the attendant applied to the handle T, and up by the spring U. The arm V, by which this cutter Q is attached to its stock, inclines toward the plane of the cutter C, so that the point-cutter Q extends to or a little beyond said plane when below the cutter (J, to make sharp points on the grass blades; consequently it is in the way of the cutter 0. Therefore the rod L is fixed on the standard K, to allow said cutter Q to be swung out of the way, and the cutter G is provided with an inclined plate, W, which strikes against the head X of cutter Q each time cutter 0 goes down, and swings said cutter out of the way. A spring, Z, swings the cutter back. As the grasses are to be of diiferent lengths, the .cutter-holder X is fixed on the rod L so as to slide to adjust the cutter accordingly; and it is also necessary to be adjustable, because the packs Y of muslin are liable to be adjusted differently on the board E. Said packs are clamped at the rear edge on the board by the clips a, and they are piled obliquely at the ends I), to correspond with the shear of the blade 0, so that when the slits 6, Fig. 5, are out, each layer or sheet of muslin will be slitted to the same distance from the end.

When the pack of sheets to be cut is clamped to the board E, it is arranged so that the end of bar H, stopping against the frame when the cutting-board is shifted to the right, will ar- 2' i i LQl rest the pack in such relation to the end i of the cutter G that it will slit the pack to the right distance from the ends .of "the sheets. When the cutting-board is shifted in the other direction for adjusting the pack for cutting off the bunches, it-is stopped by the other end of bar H striking the stop j, lying in the groove or recess I in the table.

In practice, the cutting-board will be fed to the cutter G by an automatic feed; but the lateral adjustment will preferably be effected by the attendant, although it may be done automatically, if desired.

The object of having the cuttin g-board guide F and the point-cutting-knife support connected is, that the point-cutter will shift with the board and the pack, as they are shifted for slitting and cutting off.

A paper strip, 70, may be placed on the board under the package to be cut, as shown in Fig. 4, as a guide to the operator, to show by the slits 6, made when the bunches are cut off, when the board is to be shifted to the position for cutting off the bunch it also shows the number of bunches cut ofI", from which the number of grasses may be calculated. These grasses have heretofore been cut by hand with a knife, and a rule or gage to guide the knife a slow and tedious process--and the work was very imperfect.

A power machine will cut through a pack many times thicker than can be cut by hand, and it will work much quicker; besides, it will do the work with great accuracy.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination of a cutting-board, E and a clamp for holding the pack of material to be cut on said board, with a paper-cutting machine, the said board being arranged on a feed-guide having adj ustability laterally to the feed, for shifting the pack to the position for cutting the slits, and also to the position for cutting off the bunches, substantially as specified. I

2. The combination of the point-cutter Q with the cutter G and cutting-board, substantially as specified.

3. The said point-cutter connected with the shifting cutter-board guide H, to be shifted with the board, substantially as specified.

4. The said cutter Q, arranged on a movable support, in combination with an incline on the cutter G, that moves it out of the way of said cutter 0 when the latter descends, substantially as specified.

- 5. The combination of the paper or cloth guide k with the cuttin g-board, substantially as specified.

6. The arrangement of shifting-guide H, standard K, swinging rod L, adjustable cutter-support O, and spring Z with the cutter G and table B, substantially as specified.

7. The point-cutter Q, arranged to work in an inclined plane coinciding with the shearing inclination of the cutter 0, substantially as specified.

THEOPHILUS MILLOT. JAMES MILLOT.

WVitnesses:

T. B. Mosnnn, ALEX. F. ROBERTS. 

